The Night of the Silver Totem
by Lady MarchHare
Summary: The Doctor & Leela make a small stop in the Old West and find themselves on the verge of starting a war. Wild Wild WestWho X-over {Part 4 IS UP!}
1. Part 1

The Night of the Silver Totem (Dr Who and Wild Wild West are not mine so don't sue me international conglomerates! I just thought that the Doctor & Leela could use a vacation and that Jim and Artie would make perfect hosts. Enjoy Part 1!)  
  
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He watched her pace up and down the length of the control room like a raging caged lioness. Not that he would give her the satisfaction of noting her pacing in an obvious manner. Instead it was a peripheral viewing from under a lowered floppy brown hat, a mass of brown, unruly curls, and over the top of the scarf that swallowed the lower half of his face from the center of the bridge of his hawkish nose down. For all intents and purposes he looked disinterested, asleep even. The chair propped against the wall, tipped dangerously far back, long tweed-clad legs and huge brown booted feet, anchoring him from falling over, on the control dais. He didn't move a muscle of his long lanky frame. His arms lay, relaxed and crossed over his chest and further concealed his silent observation of the perplexing, frustrating, interesting beast that was Leela.   
  
After a few more minutes of pacing with her head bowed over the primer clutched in her hands she raised her head with an impatient growl and threw it away from her with both hands as though it were a poisonous snake.  
  
"Words, words, WORDS!" She screamed. "My head aches with them!"  
  
The reason for his stillness was apparent when he smiled. The ever alert huntress saw even this small movement of muscle under scarf...the barest of ripples...and turned on him seizing Alice through the Looking Glass and throwing it at him like a boomerang, nearly toppling him.  
  
"I am a warrior of the Sevateem!" She stood erect and pounded her chest with a closed fist. "Not a chief's scribe! Why must I interpret these bird scratchings? It would be more useful to read oracles in beckle's entrails then to understand why stupid girl children would follow large rodents, they don't intend on eating, down burrows!"  
  
The Doctor spared a small mournful look at the torn book, but didn't let it stop him from smiling more broadly as he stood to his full slouching height. An illustration of the Mad Hatter's gangly, preposterous profile smiled back from the floor at him. Lifting the rim of his own hat, The Doctor fixed Leela with a merry gaze.  
  
"I imagine a book mark is easier to find tucked in the pages of Lewis Carroll then sticking to entrails Leela."  
  
She looked like she was ready to strike him for a moment. There was obviously some part of her that always had to restrain herself from lashing out at him physically. Which was reasonable considering she grew to adulthood in a culture, which raised her to understand that he was, in fact, The Evil One. Everyday he woke without a Janis Thorne in his throat he considered a triumph for his civilizing effect on people.   
  
"I've shown you Wells and Carroll, Doyle, Tennyson, Poe and the Bard and you find nothing even remotely interesting in anything you've read?" He crooned incredulously. "Nothing at all?"  
  
She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him stubbornly for a moment as she thought. Then looking around quickly she bent over and picked a book, which was hardly a book, out of the battered pile at her feet and thrust it out toward him.  
  
"This one!"  
  
The Doctor took the garishly covered magazine from her hand and examined it. It was yellowed and the edges were brittle but the color cover clearly showed a wildly painted American Indian, bedecked in feathers and his hand covering his mouth in mid-whoop on the bare back of a painted pony. One hand held a feather-covered spear, which pointed at a huge buffalo. "Tales of the Savage West" was the title and as the Doctor flipped through the weathered pages he frowned to note the numerous illustrations depicting battles and shootouts and war dances and hunts. Lots of hand colored ink drawings and not a lot of words or complicated concepts. Simple and brutal. A lot like his charge.  
  
"Ahhhhhhhh!" however, was his only reply. He had not invited Leela to accompany him on his journeys. He had decided to wander unfettered for a while. He still missed Sarah Jane more then he should...even Harry Sullivan oddly enough. But he had thought that some peace and quiet would be nice too...not for long...maybe half a century. Yet even he would admit that after just a few days the peace had just become too quiet. His booming voice seemed to echo in a way it never did when there was a sentient...or in Leela's case semi-sentient body to absorb the well-rounded tones.  
  
Still...he would have preferred to have chosen his companion himself. Not a violent, murderous, unwashed savage such as she. As frustrating as she was though, The Doctor took her under his wing. Making a determined effort to wean her from her aggressive tendencies. It was the least he could do since he was; admittedly, partially to blame for the conditions her people raised her in. Part penitent...part father figure...part Professor Higgins...part gaoler/zoo keeper/lion tamer. All equaling frustration.   
  
He opened his mouth and closed it again. Leela gazed at him expectantly. The dropping the pulp fiction he turned to the controls of the TARDIS and laid his long fingers across dials and buttons and then with a grinding whir and what sounded all the world like brakes being applied he flipped up the lever which released the door and walked past Leela and out the door.  
  
"All work and no play makes Leela a dull girl!" He called over his shoulder. He could feel the question marks strike him in the back and the moment's hesitation before Leela recovered herself and followed.  
  
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Leela didn't understand many things. As she told the Doctor, she had been raised as a hunter, not a scribe...not a priest...not a craftsman, or fletcher. Why did he have to complicate things by making her feel inadequate for not being that which she was not designed to be? He amazed her constantly...he had even earned her respect. Respect was hard won from her and usually reserved for those who had proven themselves fighters of distinction. Yet The Doctor wasn't a fighter...and her respect for his wit and humor and ability to survive despite not having a taste for war made her doubt herself. Made her feel, sometimes, that he was eroding her...weakening her...and she wasn't comfortable with that thought at all.  
  
Still she covered the hilt of her knife with her callused hand, and followed him. Far from her tribe...and far from welcome in her tribe now, he was as close as she had to a chieftain...or a friend. So her protection was his in either case.  
  
You never knew what would confront you when you left The Doctor's magic box. And she crouched low and was ready for anything whenever she left it. Though The Doctor had forbidden her from using her pouch of Janis thorns and preferred she keep her knife sheathed, she still approached every exit as a possibly dangerous encounter. Guards, beasts, storms, and foggy nights have all been found on the opposite side...so finding herself emerging to a sun dappled forest devoid of even the scent of danger made her almost as wary as a headlong assault...such a surprise peace was.  
  
"Why are we here Doctor?" she asked stepping up to his elbow where he looked down a gently sloping hillside and into a treeless valley below.  
  
"Recess!"  
  
Then he pointed down into the valley.  
  
Leela followed the pointed finger and saw them.  
  
"BUBBALOES!" She whispered excitedly. The hunter inside her kept her from shouting her joy but the whisper carried the same weight in this case. Her face was alight with earnest concentration and her hand ached to be holding her bow.  
  
"BuFF..aloes." corrected The Doctor with a grimace, then a smile.  
  
"Oh Doctor...They are beautiful!" She turned back toward the TARDIS. "Let me get my crossbow!"  
  
The Doctor reached out his hand and grabbed her by the arm. She turned and the look of distaste was plain on his face.  
  
"Leela...no. I can't have you reeking havoc on the landscape." The Doctor restrained her. "You seemed interested in the animal and I brought you here for a break in your studies...to relax."  
  
"Hunting is relaxing!" she hissed looking back at the bison mournfully.   
  
The Doctor looked absently disdainful. "Only a savage could find killing something a form of recreation."  
  
Then an ear-splitting whoop filled the air and The Doctor turned to look down into the valley at the same time as three bare backed riders burst from the tree cover below and screamed toward the startled herd. No reins...horses and riders almost one body as the fearless mounts charged without goading and the riders raised bows with arrows notched.  
  
Just as one flight of arrows connected with the slowest old cow the second volley was ready to fly. They seemed to work telepathically...nothing but savage screaming and deadly aim. Leela watched with taut envy and excitement. Her breath caught in her throat and her fingers tightened over the hilt of her dagger, every muscle in her body ached with the desire to be down on that plain with the dark skinned dark haired warriors who moved with their animals as though they were one with the creatures.   
  
The Doctor watched with interest but without the same anticipation. There was almost a sadness in his stance that Leela didn't understand. When the triumphant yelling swelled and the wounded beast fell Leela's heart leapt with joy...The Doctor closed his great blue eyes and shook his head slowly. He prepared to turn, the TARDIS key in hand, clearly, recess was over, when there was a whine of technology that even Leela knew was out of place in this valley and they both turned and saw the three warriors fall from their horses next to the carcass of their kill.  
  
And Leela suddenly found herself chasing The Doctor as he ran down the hill toward the fallen natives. She didn't mind. She was sure though, that if she hadn't been so softened by travel with The Doctor, that it should be he that was following her down into the valley. This did bother her.  
  
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The negotiations were going badly. James West watched Chief Red Hand carefully as he was whispered at from all sides by his counselors, especially the Medicine Man...Shaker of Bones. The wizened medicine man glared at James West & Artemus Gordon with eyes like shiny black marbles in his cracked and lined face, his white, feather and bone braided plaits shaking with the vehement admonishments he spat into his chief's ear.  
  
"Shaker of Bones says that you speak lies. That the Silver Totem says that while you make promises to us that your soldiers and miners kill our braves." The stately chieftain looked at his medicine man with respect but also sadness.   
  
He was a man beaten down by wars. He cared for his ever smaller tribe and the tribes of his nation and held onto the hope that THIS TIME...the white man would be true to his word.   
  
"I can promise you Chief that this is untrue. We have soldiers guarding the outskirts of your lands until we can resolve our current problems...no one has crossed your borders. No one is killing your braves."  
  
The old shaman took great exception to this and stood and pointed into West's face shaking with fury.  
  
"You call the Silver Totem a liar!?" Just then a young breathless brave burst into the tent and whispered urgently in the old man's ear and the man waved him away with a sickeningly smug smile. Jim glanced at Artie who was craning to see outside the flap of the large teepee being used by the chief for this meeting.  
  
"Red Hand...remember this day. Remember what I said...remember that the man of the White Chief in Washington called Silver Totem a liar...and remember that Silver Totem has never lied to our people since his arrival...unlike the white man!" And then the shaman swept out of the teepee followed by his cronies then the Chief and his braves and lastly James West and Artemus Gordon.  
  
There were muffled gasps and, then the loud sobbing cries of women, then angry shouts as Jim pushed through the crowd. The procession coming to a stop in front of the meeting place included three horses with their riders, three young braves, dead and draped over their backs. Those horses were led by six furious looking warriors who glared at two people being walked behind the ponies carrying the dead. A rope around each of the two's throats kept them from being inclined to fall and they trotted to a stop looking dusty but far from what Jim or Artie expected.  
  
There was no doubt that the captives were white...but they looked, in no way, like soldiers or miners. A man and a woman. The man was tall, gangly, wearing a long coat and a multi-colored knitted scarf, which dragged the ground behind him, hardly in keeping with the warmer then usual fall they were entering. The inappropriateness of his dress apparent in the sweat pouring off his brow and sticking damp brown masses of curls to his forehead so that he shook his head to see clearly around him once they completely stopped. His blue eyes became enormous as he looked around with interest, his gaze resting for just a moment on Artie and Jim and smiling broadly if tiredly. The woman was equally unusual. She stood as tall as Jim in skin moccasin boots and skin dress which came up to her thighs and the neck of which curved low...it was as native as could be but of no tribe design Jim could recognize...certainly not like any of the more demure Indian maidens gathered angrily on the outskirts of the men to stare. But she was definitely white. Tanned. Toned. Her muscles were lean and used to hard work...fighting too by the look of the empty sheath on her shapely hip. Jim could even make out the faint white scratchings against arms and legs that spoke of scars. But definitely a white woman. Wavy brown hair hung past her shoulders and she looked around curiously as well but her face was grim and dignified...her brown eyes hard.  
  
"Red Hand...Our warriors are slain, just as Silver Totem said!" The shriveled, bristling medicine man struck with his buffalo bone talisman and the tall man doubled over with a grunt where it struck him in the stomach. "And here are the white murderers!"  
  
Jim saw the woman growl angrily and bear her teeth at the shaman and lunge only to be yanked back with a choking cough by a mounted brave. Jim stepped forward quickly.  
  
The tall man stood and gazed at his approach and smiled.  
  
"Hullo." Jim paused. The sonorous, rolling tones were even more out of place then the scarf.  
  
Jim came to a stop in front of the man and looked up into his expressive eyes. "I don't know who you are but you better have a good explanation for being in a restricted area." The man grinned and Jim wondered if he was simple minded. Then he spoke again and the tones and content were anything but simple.  
  
"Ask the chap with the boney decorations how these men died..."  
  
Artie turned to the chief. "Chief Red Hand, if these two killed your warriors we will stand by your judgment of them." Jim felt an involuntary jerk inside at this promise, but what choice did they have? "But please, let us examine what happened to be sure of all our facts first. Can we look at the braves who were killed please? With you here, of course."  
  
Artie's hands were held palms up and open, a gesture of humility and pleading. The chief looked at the faces of his grieving people and the angry shaman and the curious faces of the suspects and nodded.  
  
The medicine man ran up to his chief as he saw the man weigh the request.  
  
"Red Hand!" he cried with disbelief. "This she-dog was seen over our braves with her long knife! What more proof do you need!?"  
  
The chief looked at his shaman with annoyance suddenly...obviously sick of being disturbed in his deliberations yet again. Then looking up at the warrior on the horse dragging the woman he thrust out his hand.   
  
"I will look at this knife!" he ordered. The warrior wavered, looking first at the shaman then his chief and he took the knife from his belt and laid it in Red Hand's palm.  
  
The chief examined the knife and Jim did as well...surreptitiously. It was a well used blade but well cared for. A prized possession. A leather-wrapped handle worn smooth with years of use, a sharpened blade oiled with care. Jim was careful not to point this out to Red Hand for fear of insulting him and he needn't have feared because Red Hand had seen the evidence the blade did not carry for himself.  
  
"Owl's Eyes?" He barked the question. "Did you wipe the blade? Did you oil it?"  
  
The long braided warrior looked around, confused, then back at his chief.  
  
"No my chief!"  
  
The chief stepped up to the woman who looked at him calmly, defiantly.  
  
"You did not kill my braves." It was a statement.  
  
"No. WE did not." Also a statement.  
  
The chief turned one by one to the braves.  
  
"Besides the knife, what other weapons were found?"  
  
The warriors looked at each other and then at the ground, back of their horse's necks, their feet...anyplace but their chief.  
  
Owl's Eyes answered. "We found no weapons." He indicated the tall man who had taken to studying the symbols painted on a teepee with undivided attention. "This one carried many strange things, but none of them weapons that we know of."  
  
At this another warrior handed the chief a makeshift bag made of hide which the chief emptied at his feet and sifted through. This Jim and Artie also examined with interest.  
  
Two apple cores.  
  
One yo-yo toy that Jim could recall Chinese children playing with in the streets of San Francisco.  
  
One crumpled white bag with what appeared to be some sort of sweets inside.  
  
A small ball of string.  
  
A candle stub.  
  
A battered origami crane.  
  
A chain with an odd pendant hanging from it.  
  
A cricket ball.  
  
A bag of marbles.  
  
More string...loose...not wound into a ball this time.  
  
And a small metal stick topped with a red jewel in a small metal ring.  
  
An odd collection....a huge and pointless looking collection. But as the chief pondered the items he came to the same conclusion as Jim did.  
  
"I see no weapons." He stepped up to the tall man and looked him over. The man had the sense not to smile this time. Jim wondered about his seeming simpleness even further. The chief turned to his people. "These two people killed three braves who had bows, knives, horses, and spears with an apple core and an unused knife?"  
  
Meanwhile the bodies were lowered from the horses and the chief turned away from the tall man and his shaman and people and the agents and bent to examine them, placing a mournful hand on each forehead and chanting low in prayer before the perusal. It was harder to see around the crowd that gathered then and Jim had to do his best...he could see Artie was closer and his friend was looking down with a surprised interest on his face. For the first time one of them interrupted the chief.  
  
"Chief Red Hand...what do you make of that black starburst pattern on the back of this man and the chests of the other two?" Artie's voice was low...respectful. "I can't see from here very well...but I see no hole...no stab wound."  
  
The question was PERFECT. Jim suppressed a grin. His friend had managed to draw attention to the important lack of entry wound at the same time as he informed Jim of what was...or wasn't there.  
  
He heard the chief grunt in acknowledgement of the observation his reply did not sound insulted. "I understand what you say Artemus Gordon. Yessss...No holes. It looks like they were...how do I explain? It looks like the marks left when a man is struck by skyfire...um...lightning."  
  
"Exactly Chief!" Artie sounded fascinated.   
  
Jim resisted the urge to stand on his toes to see...it would have lowered his dignity. He caught the eye of the dark haired woman and saw her stifle a grin as though she'd read his mind and he frowned.  
  
The chief was still talking. "But Artemus Gordon. Sky...umm lightening does not chase and kill three strong men on a clear day." He looked troubled as he stood. He did not look at his shaman or the shaman's supporters as he raised his hands.  
  
The crowd grew silent.  
  
"My eyes are old, but they are not blind. I see no weapons, and I see no weapon wounds!" There was much angry murmuring and the chief silenced it with a glare. "But I do not see the sky dark with thunderclouds...there was no sky fire. I find that someone has killed our braves!" There was whooping at this and Jim turned to see the girl gasp, not from the pronouncement but because her noose was yanked tighter by her over enthusiastic handler and he almost moved to aid her but the chief, for all his age, moved faster and jerked the rope from Owl's Eyes' hands and glowered at the brave.  
  
"But I am not convinced that these two are the guilty ones!"  
  
The crowd grew silent. The shaman's approach to the center of the conversation was heralded by the clattering of bones. "Then you call Silver Totem a liar!" he declared. "Even if these did not kill our braves, which Silver Totem says they did, even so..they violate the white man's promise not to come on to our lands before Red Hand says they may come! Silver Totem says the white man lies and he has not been proven wrong!"  
  
The Chief looked very much older suddenly and bowed his head in a nod. Then looked up.   
  
"This is truth Bone Shaker." He pointed at the tall man and the girl. "Take them to a teepee with the white chief's men and guard them. I must think of what the punishment for their trespass will be."  
  
Jim felt himself being shoved and realized that he and Artie were now prisoners of the enraged tribe as much as the strangers were.   
  
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The Doctor looked inside the dusty teepee but was shoved inside before his eyes could adjust properly to the gloom.  
  
Leela glowered at him, ignoring the other two men shoved in behind her as she wagged a finger in his face.  
  
"If you had let me keep my Janis Thorns we would never have been captured!" she hissed.  
  
She looked ready to continue but the handsome man in the blue suit turned toward them with his fists clenched but his manner in check.  
  
"You had better be able to explain who you are and what you are doing here." He crossed his arms and paced the short length of the teepee and turned back toward them. "Do you realize you have single-handedly destroyed 6 months of negotiations with Red Hand's people to avoid another Indian war...to avoid a land grab by miners...to avoid a massacre on both sides?!"  
  
The Doctor paused and looked at the other man instead. Taller then the other man he watched them with large curious brown eyes and a crease of concern marring his broad forehead.  
  
"You did very well out there you know!" he said putting out his hand amiably. The tall dark haired man shook it, glancing at his friend with a look of sudden confusion.  
  
"Ummm...thank you."   
  
"Not at all." The Doctor enthused. "Of course that Red Hand fellow was a quite intelligent as well. Still..." he frowned. "I didn't really like that short bony chap. Reminded me too much of...what was his name? Leela? Your Xoanon priest....uhhh?"  
  
"Neeva." She provided while she kept her eyes on the man in blue, having determined him to be the greater danger at this time.  
  
"NEEVA!" The Doctor exclaimed. "That's right!"   
  
The man in blue stopped in front of them again and took a deep breath.  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Leela." Introduced Leela, in the way she had seen The Doctor introduce himself on occasion, and she thrust out her hand stiffly at the height of the man's chin.   
  
This, The Doctor was glad to see, produced a quick, tiny, smile as the man retrieved her hand from the air to shake it. The Doctor smiled and thrust out his hand as well, only at a more appropriate height. "I am The Doctor." Then he waited with wide blue eyes expectant.  
  
The men before them regained their balance after the inevitable pause most people experienced with The Doctor as they waited for more to his introduction.  
  
"James West." Greeted the man in blue with a nod toward Leela.  
  
"Artemus Gordon." Introduced the dark haired man with a more courtly bow to Leela which actually produced a blush, causing The Doctor to smile broadly at the man.  
  
"We're federal agents, we were sent here to negotiate a new treaty which would allow for the gold, discovered in Red Hand's territory to be mined without the miners or the Indians killing each other or the government being forced to move them onto a reservation. But your arrival was a violation of our promise that no other white men...or women...would come onto their land until the treaty particulars were agreed upon."  
  
The man was very angry, coiled with it, but apparently not as rash as one would expect from such a young buck. The Doctor smiled sympathetically with their situation then turned away from James West and pointed at Artemus Gordon.  
  
"Who is this, Silver Totem, that the shaman spoke of?" The Doctor had cultivated his banter to the point that most people never realized they were being questioned by him until they had revealed far too much and then they generally underestimated him and felt that what they'd revealed would soon be forgotten by him anyway. Not this time. As the Dark haired man opened his mouth to answer the smaller, brown haired man grabbed him by his coat lapels and scarf with larger then average hands and jerked him off his feet forward, easily supporting his weight as he looked him square in the eye  
  
"WE...ask the questions...YOU answer the questions...What are you doin...." Was as far as he got when Leela, a blur of movement out of the corner of his left eye, hooked one lean arm around James West's neck and secured her grip with her other hand locked firmly around her wrist. With a twist and jerk backwards the man's chin pointed up in the air and she leaned in to whisper in her victim's right ear.  
  
"Let go of The Doctor or I will snap your neck!" And with a grunt from West it was apparent that his ward was applying meaning to her threat.  
  
The Doctor's coat was released and he straightened, about ready to admonish Leela for her savage behavior. When The Doctor glanced to his right he saw Mr. Gordon's eyes widen with surprise and more then a little delight and The Doctor wasn't sure that that was necessarily a good reaction.   
  
Then in another blur of motion James West grabbed the arm around his throat and rolled forward carrying Leela over his shoulder, until she hit the floor with a dirty thud and he rolled up onto her chest and pinned her to the floor with a less then gentlemanly smile playing on his lips.  
  
The disturbance was settled when the Indians guarding the teepee ran inside and stared in surprise at the compromising position and West stood and extended a hand down to Leela which she batted aside and stood and skulked over to stand beside The Doctor. The two guards whispered something to each other that The Doctor suspected was very rude indeed and laughed as they left the teepee.  
  
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James West was tired of surprises; though the opportunity to straddle a scantily clad woman was a surprise he didn't mind so much as he wanted to pretend.  
  
"That was just dandy!" he groused. "Look...I need to know what you are doing here and why all the questions?"  
  
The woman answered much to everyone's surprise. "I am here because The Doctor was trying to show me what a bubba...buff..alo looked like because I was working too hard learning to read and lost my temper and he probably feared that if I didn't get away from reading for a while that I would kill him with a Janis thorn out of spite! That is why we are here. But it is no matter! We ARE here, and you should LISTEN to The Doctor because he is older and wiser then you are and if you don't I may be tempted to use my thorns on you instead!"  
  
The three of them stared but while Artie and Jim were simply confused the broadest of toothy smiles blossomed on the tall stranger's face, much like a proud parent watching it's precocious offspring. Then he scowled.  
  
"Thorns?"  
  
The girl lowered her eyes at the admonishment and smiled sheepishly.   
  
"I keep one hidden...in my hair."  
  
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Artemus Gordon watched events unfold with only one certainty.  
  
That The Doctor wasn't the fool he permitted others to think he was. He watched the casual examinations of minutia while grinning inanely; all the while wild blue eyes that glittered with mad genius played the room and knew every nuance even if he personally didn't play by any rules of etiquette or conventional reaction. This man was as alien to this place as the man in the moon, yet oddly at home and understanding of the forms, but not feeling any need to abide by them. In a way he reminded Artie of Dr. Loveless. But while the eyes showed the same maniacal glee they held none of the malice that the insane little man's eyes held for the world.  
  
No...this man was no fool.  
  
And what's more, for no reason he could even think of or understand, he knew that this Doctor was more then an encumbrance...he may be a solution and Artie went with his instinct on this.  
  
"You asked about Silver Totem." He said, ignoring the look that Jim gave him. "We tried to find out early in our negotiations...after a while we gave up. It seems to be another name for their Great Sky Father....their God...though I've never heard them refer to God by such a title before last year."  
  
The Doctor nodded. "Yes...well...maybe they've had a recent revelation."  
  
The woman, who now watched Jim with a suspicious caution, sank to the floor of the teepee and leaned against the center pole.  
  
"Does the priest talk to his god in the open?"  
  
Artemus smiled. "No...and that is odd. These are very spiritual people but their spirituality is rooted in nature...in openness." He looked at Jim who frowned as he listened...the ideas opening up in his head despite his suspicion of these two. "But this "God" only appears to the Shaker of Bones in a special teepee set up outside the tribe's encampment."  
  
The Doctor chuckled. "A lot like Neeva. But...I wonder...who is on the other end of the telephone this time?"  
  
"Tele-what?" Asked Artie, Jim and Leela in unison.  
  
But they were ignored. The question was unimportant to the focus The Doctor had attached himself to.  
  
"I think we should pay a call on God then."  
  
He began to look around as though searching for something to use, perhaps in an escape, but Artie somehow knew it was better not to hazard a guess with this man.  
  
"Doctor...is this like Xoanon?" The girl said this in a hushed tone and made a series of gestures that Artie had never seen before but reminded him of a Catholic gesturing at a particularly upsetting thought to garner protection.  
  
"I don't believe so...I don't usually make mistakes more then once."  
  
The girl rolled her eyes.  
  
Before any of this could be explained to the curious Artie or the more then agitated James West the tent flap opened and they were ushered out. It had grown dark and the way to the center of the camp was lit by torches and a huge bonfire in the center.  
  
Artie walked beside Jim.  
  
"What do you think of our friend The Doctor."  
  
Jim glanced at the man as he stooped to wave at a small child hiding behind adults as they passed.  
  
"I don't know...I want to get them out of here...back to the Wanderer if we can. I just hope we can make it out of here with our scalps." He whispered back.  
  
Artie looked at the Chief as he came into view. "Red Hand is a good man Jim...smart...if there's a way he'll find it. He has to do it in a way that will satisfy his people." Artie watched the chief's face for any clue. "If not...the Shaman will step in and take over and we'll have a new Indian war and more then just us four will lose our scalps."  
  
Jim nodded.  
  
The sound around them died as Red Hand raised his arms high then lowered them. The Shaman's eyes glittered red and hard in the fire glow as he watched the proceedings hungrily.  
  
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Leela stood beside The Doctor and held her chin up. This was a tribe chief pronouncing sentence, she would treat this with dignity.  
  
The Chief spoke. "The people demand your lives. They say you lied. That white men have killed our people."  
  
There were murmurs, but no outbursts this time.  
  
"But I say that the warriors died another way and there is no proof that these whites killed or came to our lands to kill or mine."  
  
The murmurs grew angry.  
  
"But I will let the strength of champions decide whether the whites go free or die since the people disagree."  
  
The man named West tensed, his jaw clenched and his fists curled and uncurled in a brief, automatic gesture. He began sizing up the warriors who stood by the Shaman, for Leela knew that the tribe's champion would come from that side of the argument. She watched him begin to shed his jacket and remove his empty gun belt. He had chosen himself their champion and prepared for it as a fighter should. She was impressed.  
  
Red Hand continued. "Kills like Bear will fight..." he nodded to West. "James West. To the death."  
  
The named warrior stepped out of the crowd. A full head taller then the tallest there West's head came to his chest and the brawny seasoned brave looked down with a pitiless, determined face.  
  
The Doctor interrupted. "Chief...If we win...can we see Silver Totem?"  
  
The Chief frowned. "It is forbidden. If West defeats Kills like Bear your only reward will be banishment from our lands."  
  
"But what if we make the show more...interesting?" The Doctor grinned. Leela watched as the Doctor noted the gambling taking place on the sidelines and she felt an anxious prickling.  
  
"Interesting?"  
  
West rushed forward and pushed a finger into The Doctor's chest and this time Leela didn't stop him. The Chief's challenge had seemed fair to her and The Doctor was endangering their chances for survival.  
  
"Stay out of this..." West shouted.   
  
He would have continued but The Doctor grabbed Leela by the arm and sidestepped West dragging her forward.  
  
"I bet a visit to Silver Totem, that Leela here, will defeat your brave!" he shouted to the crowd whose combined voice rose to a deafening roar.  
  
"WHAT!?" Shouted West and Gordon together. 


	2. Part 2

"NO!" This time the chorus included Red Hand and the Shaman. The irony that this was the first thing they had all agreed to since negotiations began passed over them briefly and they shared a collective blink. The Shaman recovered first.  
  
"NO...no one sees Silver Totem but Shaker of Bones!" He trembled with age and wounded pride. "This is Silver Totem's wish!"  
  
"Really?" asked The Doctor lowering Leela's arm and leaning in intently. "You mean no one has ever seen this Silver Totem fellow but you?"  
  
Artie watched the Shaman carefully. "NO ONE!" The old man screamed.  
  
"Then how does the rest of the tribe know Silver Totem even exists?" asked Artie.  
  
The betting died down and the old man shot Artie a venomous glare through the torchlight. The tribe watched expectantly. Red Hand especially.   
  
"I have seen him!" Owl's Eyes stepped from the crowd and all gazes followed him. "I helped to erect the special teepee the shaman ordered for him." He lowered his head. "Forgive me shaman...we were ordered to leave but I hid on the hillside and saw Silver Totem as he entered his new home. He was tall, and covered in silver skin and his head was large and looked like a kachina. I wasn't close but I know what I saw. I saw the shaman and I saw Silver Totem. Forgive me shaman for my disobedience."  
  
The old man gave a sly, smug grin and nodded patronizingly and placed a fatherly hand on the brave's shoulder. "You are forgiven." Then he turned triumphantly to the crowd.  
  
The Doctor smiled. "Well then...we'd be forgiven for a little visit wouldn't we? What harm would there be?"  
  
The old man's smile evaporated. "No!"  
  
Red Hand raised a hand for silence. "I cannot let the girl fight."  
  
The girl looked at him, no longer confused but defiant. "And why not?!"  
  
Red Hand looked at her worriedly. Artie knew Red Hand had daughters and his look was far more fatherly then the shaman's attempt had been. "Because this fight...for honor...for judgment...is to the death. Kills like Bear fights because two of the braves who died were his brothers. He makes the sacrifice willingly for the cause of justice for his family. But what do you fight for?"  
  
Leela stood taller and faced Kills like Bear standing within arm's reach of the huge warrior. "It is good that he fights for honor. It is good that he seeks justice. I too, am a warrior. I am a tribesman of the Sevateem! And I fight for justice as well. I would be honored to battle Kills like Bear. I would fight to prove our innocence, if your law demands such as display, and I would win."  
  
The silence was explosive. So much of Leela's statement was beyond belief...beyond ridiculous that there should have been laughter. But there wasn't. Red Hand distracted Leela by lifting her hand gently in his and turning it over, seeming to examine it for signs of the truth, and then he lifted his eyes to hers again. "This is to...the...death."  
  
"Oh don't worry...Leela won't kill anyone. She's sworn off that. Haven't you Leela?"  
  
All eyes turned to The Doctor who grinned.  
  
"So do we have a deal? Leela wins, and we see Silver Totem."  
  
The betting was back...the crowd grew louder ...Red Hand, still holding Leela's hand, looked pensive.  
  
"James West, if you battle Kills like Bear, you might win. I know your reputation as a warrior and know that you would battle honorably. But a win will just send you and your friends home. This woman's reputation is unknown to me. I do not know this Sevateem tribe she speaks of....but I believe she speaks true. She accepts challenge, and the people desire this challenge."  
  
Jim stepped forward, his stance tense with worry. "My friend's and my life depend on this battle too Red Hand. I do not let women fight for me...I like living."  
  
There was chuckling coming from the crowd. Leela clearly bristled, but held her tongue admirably.  
  
Their lives rested on this battle and Artie knew they at least stood a chance with Jim...but he couldn't...in all honesty...discount the girl.  
  
Red Hand nodded. "This is difficult." Then he turned to the big warrior who had stood like a sullen tree watching with hooded eyes.   
  
"Kills like Bear. Your brothers lay dead and you believe the white men have violated the treaty made with your tribe." The chief laid a compassionate hand on the warrior's chest. "Two stand ready to meet your challenge and the tribe's justice. You will choose who you will fight."  
  
The warrior nodded and strode forward and stood in front of Jim and Leela, seeming to look at them both simultaneously. He didn't move.   
  
Jim, shirtless, stood in the heat of the bonfire and torchlight, looking, as always, fit and quietly confidant. His hands clasped behind him. He stood with a steady gaze, calm, ready.  
  
Leela, too, stood calm and confident, as tall as Jim, lean and well proportioned.   
  
One hand rested on her empty scabbard at her hip, as though it was it's natural place, the other hand at her side a fist casually clenched.   
  
Both of them held an almost kinetic energy. Motionless, but their stillness full of possibilities. Jim looked maybe over confidant, slightly, but probably only noticeable to Artie, who knew him so well.  
  
The same could be said for Kills like Bear. Silent and thoughtful but a face that betrayed nothing he stood for what seemed like an eternity.  
  
When his mouth opened it was a deep, pain-filled rumble.  
  
"Her." He pointed at Leela and cheers went up from satisfied bettors.   
  
Red Hand nodded. "And why?"  
  
Kills like Bear nodded at Leela. "I care not for who walks on our land, or who digs for gold, or treaties. But this one..." He inclined his head at Leela. "Was witnessed over my little brother's body. She accepts the challenge like a warrior...with the words of a brave. She wants to live and save her friend's life as much as this other one. But she understands what the fight means to me." He nodded with respect to that. "The other one's only other concern is not to have a woman chosen over him."  
  
"It is decided." Artie pulled Jim back towards him just before he could make a protest. He knew Red Hand would let the decision stand and arguing it would be considered an insult to the leader and his tribe. Jim knew it too and held his tongue with difficulty.   
  
The Doctor, who had watched with respectful silence, which Artie suspected he didn't usually do, smiled.  
  
"Then it's on...Leela wins, and we visit Silver Totem?"  
  
Red Hand nodded as the Shaman glowered in the background. "Or she loses...dies...and you all die."  
  
"It is no matter!" Interrupted Shaker of Bones. "She will lose!" He spat on the ground and stalked away.  
  
The Doctor didn't blink. "Can we have time to prepare?" he asked politely. "Oh...and can I have my bag of sweets again please...I'm hungry."  
  
"You have one hour." And the bag of candy was handed to the tall stranger by one of the braves and the Chief returned to his teepee casting one sorrowful look at Leela before the flap closed behind him.  
  
"Well that was a lucky thing." clapped The Doctor as they were escorted to a place near the racks of drying buffalo hides.  
  
"Lucky?" Jim growled. "That giant is going to kill your friend and we're all going to end up with our scalps hanging from his spear and you call that lucky?"  
  
Artie cleared his throat and Leela tensed. The enormity of the coming fight was weighing in on her. "Can she really beat that guy?" He asked The Doctor. For the first time he saw the Doctor actually seem to consider that question. There was an almost paternal worry that clouded his eyes for a moment and he seemed to gaze at nothing in particular.   
  
"I didn't want to. You see we've been weaning Leela out of her savage upbringing." He whispered conspiratorially. "She has potential you know. But her prowess at knocking people about has come in handy at times, I hate to say." He grinned at her. "I don't exhaust myself having to rescue her very often. She's a capable little brute."  
  
This must have been high, and unexpected, praise because it pulled Leela out of her reverie with a blush.  
  
"However..." The Doctor held out his hand and gave her a stern look.  
  
The girl seemed to grasp the gesture immediately and reached up and pulled something out from under her hair. It was a small tufted thorn. She laid it, carefully, in her mentor's hand. He, in turn, retrieved a strange candy from the battered bag in his pocket and stuck the thorn into the sweet and repocketed the bag and stoppered thorn.  
  
"No more of these on you?" he admonished. The girl shook her head. He grinned. "Good girl. Leela...you mustn't kill the boy. Do you understand?"  
  
"I will try Doctor." Leela was serious and tense again. "But don't make me promise. The nature of a challenge battle like this may force me to complete the challenge fully or offer an unforgivable insult. You need to see this Silver Totem. If he can solve this crime...or if he is responsible...I may have to fulfill this task to get us what we need."  
  
The Doctor frowned at this but nodded his head curtly.  
  
Jim was now watching Leela with an unreadable expression. Though the idea she might win was foreign to him...it was clear that she grasped the situation and dynamics of the coming fight with an almost soldierly clarity.  
  
The exchange struck Artie as surreal. It was time to follow a different subject.  
  
He turned to his friend. "Jim...do you think its Loveless? That suit of armor he used when he was pretending to be the "Lord of the Forest"...he almost had us at war that time with the Indians."  
  
Jim chewed his lower lip. "It might be...though I don't see how. We destroyed that contraption. No. Loveless tends to bother us most in California. He thinks it's his by inheritance. He has never had designs on the Colorado territory that I know of."  
  
Artie grunted agreement. "But he's insane Jim...as well as a genius. He could have rebuilt the armor and his designs are always changing."  
  
"That's just it Artie. The designs change with Loveless..." James West was buttoning back up his shirt as he spoke. "He's never repeated a gimmick...ever."  
  
"No." The Doctor said low. "I fear we are looking at something more sophisticated then any man here, on Earth, could conceive. No matter his genius. Those men were killed with a weapon that will not be possible, on this planet, for another 500 years. If my suspicions are correct you may have more to worry about then an Indian war and treaties. You may be looking at the end of your world."   
  
Artemus Gordon should have been looking at this man with as though he was crazy, but there was something in the distressed seriousness of his intense blue gaze that precluded mockery. The Doctor and Leela were an unknown element...possibly unstable as well...but Artie couldn't seem to help the shiver that ran up his spine.  
  
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Their hour was melting away and Jim looked around again. The braves who guarded them silently watched their every move and their horses were on the other side of the encampment, hobbled with the painted ponies of the tribe. Finally with a growl of frustration he took Leela abruptly by the elbow and took her to a corner of their guard ringed enclosure and turned her to face him.  
  
She did not resist the move, nor did she seem unsettled by it. She looked at him expectantly, her eyes narrowed a little. Jim thought that she'd be very pretty if she scowled less, but shook off the thought quickly.  
  
He lowered his voice so that only she could hear him. "You do whatever you have to in order to survive...do you understand me?" Her eyes opened wider and she nodded almost imperceptibly. Yes...she was prettier with the scowl gone. "Artie and I have a few surprises of our own...if we can...we'll help."  
  
The girl touched his arm. "Get the chain with the strange pendant during the fight. And the little metal pole with the red crystal. Give them to the Doctor. If I die...the Doctor has a Magic Box...a ship...that you can escape in near by. It is your best chance."  
  
He looked at her skeptically. She scowled again. "Trust us!" she pleaded with frustration. The braves stirred around them and he knew their hour was up. Without another second's hesitation he took her in his arms and kissed her. She didn't resist though she stiffened for a moment, caught off guard, but she returned the kiss with brief but ardent gusto.   
  
"Ahem!" Leela jumped and turned to see the Doctor standing behind her.  
  
"Pep talk?" He asked calmly watching both their faces.   
  
Jim had the distinct feeling of being caught by a girl's father in a compromising position. But The Doctor's head bobbed with enthusiasm.   
  
"Heart rate accelerated...adrenaline boost...respiration up...blood oxygenated...hmmm well it isn't The Charge of the Light Brigade, but Leela appears sufficiently motivated. Thank you Mr. West."  
  
He covered his mouth and cleared his throat. "My pleasure." He found himself grinning.  
  
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The kiss HAD been a surprise. As had been her reaction to it. She had watched the man West with suspicion...sometimes with extreme dislike...for the last few hours. But as a trained warrior himself, she had not resisted being pulled away to the side by him. She had thought he would probably do just that...to consult with her about the coming fight and maybe offer a tip or two. The kiss was NOT something that had entered her head as a tool to prepare one for battle. But apparently The Doctor approved of the physical reaction it had engendered in her. Was it people outside her Tribe who confused her...or men in general?  
  
Probably just men, she decided.  
  
And they could get more confusing. The Doctor, as they walked with their guards towards the large ring cleared of people and debris, put his large hand in hers and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Whether he was reassuring himself or her she couldn't tell, but as they walked she saw him glance at her nervously once or twice, his face clouded. For all the confidence he had in putting her forward as their champion, he worried. Whether for her or all of their futures she couldn't imagine...but she knew one thing. That The Doctor must suspect a very great danger, indeed, in order to actually be encouraging her in her savage ways. So she decided to be the most savage "savage" she could be to accommodate him.  
  
Once they reached the circle of earth, The Doctor partially turned and looked down at her, his great eyes searching her face, which she deliberately kept impassive. It was an awkward moment. Then he clasped both her shoulders with a strength that startled her, and gave her the quickest of pecks on her forehead.   
  
"Win." He whispered. But his eyes were telling her to 'Be careful.' And she knew..and he knew...that that was impossible.  
  
Then came a surprise for all of them. Red Hand ordered the rest of her small group to be tied to poles surrounding the ring.  
  
"I am sorry West...Gordon," said Red Hand sorrowfully. "But I cannot have you trying to help the girl. If she wins you will be free. If she loses I will make your deaths swift."   
  
Leela watched as they drew The Doctor, unresisting, to a pole as his eyes stayed on her. He tried to smile at her in his silliest, most endearing way, but the worry in his gaze made her uncomfortable and she turned away. West and Gordon protested, West testing his bonds with angry frustration. Someone had been thorough.  
  
Red Hand led her to the ring's center by her elbow and once there he handed her back her knife with a small bow and retreated to the ring's edge. Leela turned the hilt in her hand until the worn, smooth leather fell into the grooves of her hand, as it should. She took a deep breath, comforted by it's weight, knowing it's length like it were part of her arm and knowing it's balance made her feel steadier...as though she had stood lopsided without it.  
  
War whoops tore through the chilling night air and Leela saw Kills Like Bear coming through the crowd parting it like a leper as his tribesmen stood away to show respect for the giant brave. As he came to the edge of the ring an old woman who had held his hand parted from him with a sad nod. Her tears clear in her eyes and on her cheeks from even a distance...shining in the torchlight and full moon. His mother. The dead braves' mother. She lowered her head respectfully to the older woman and saw a stiffening of her spine and a deepening of her frown.   
  
The brave was bare to the waist, his long hair in a braid down his back. His huge hand grasping a knife that was longer then hers slightly...but still looked like a toy in his fist. She fell into a wary crouch and her feet moved sidelong, taking her to the opposite side of the ring and in the opposite direction of his circling. She needed to see how he moved...how he held himself...and how, and what, he watched about her before she could make a move. And from the way he moved, she knew he was making the same determinations.  
  
The battle had begun.  
  
He took an experimental slash toward her left side and she turned away from it. An inexperienced fighter would leap back and risk falling over, instead she made a complete turn, low and quick and made an equal slash towards her opponent who opened his arms wide and turned away. His eyes widened, just a touch. He took a more daring lunge the next time. She caught his wrist with her left hand and brought her elbow down into the crook of his arm, bending his arm upward and drawing herself to him, her right hand stabbing forward trying for his upper chest. He grabbed for her hand and caught the knife slightly. She had drawn first blood, but he had stopped her blow in mid air and held her easily. He threw her away from him as hard as he could and she rolled backwards twice before coming to a stop on her back.  
  
On instinct she rolled to the left and felt the ground tremble as Kills like Bear crashed, blade first, into the place she had just vacated. She rolled to her feet and scampered back. Bear jumped up and they began their circling dance again.  
  
"You are a warrior." His voice rumbled. "I had hoped what I'd heard in your words was true. I have never killed a woman...I feared that the warriors would say I chose an honorless fight...an easy kill."  
  
She didn't let the compliment pause her. "You bleed first Kills like Bear." She switched her knife, fluidly, from her right to her left hand, and nearly connected with his upper right arm in a rabbit fast lunge. "A Sevateem Warrior is never an 'easy kill'."  
  
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Artie tried once more to loosen his hands enough to do any good...to reach anything secreted on his person. But the braves had done a good job. His fingers were almost numb and the tips were starting to throb. He stopped trying.  
  
The girl, Leela, was holding her own. More then holding her own, in fact. But the brave was big...and fast...and as Artie watched, Bear made a broad and serious stab at Leela and her back arched away to avoid it, throwing her off balance. He continued through the stab to catch her under the ribs with his shoulder and tackle her to the ground, her knife skidding away from her grip in the dirt from the bone jarring impact.  
  
Jim threw himself against his bonds uselessly and Artie knew he didn't imagine The Doctor's face grow pale as the massive brave began pressing his blade toward Leela's heaving chest as her arms strained to resist the relentless progress.   
  
Bear did not smile or gloat as he pressed the knife forward. As the tip knicked her skin and a trickle of blood welled and fell towards her throat, he spared a glance at her face, which was a mask of desperate concentration as she pushed helplessly at his arm.  
  
"You fought well." He said loud enough for the crowd to hear and they applauded their agreement...Bear's coming victory...or both.  
  
Artie felt sick as he thought of the explosives in his boot heel and the knife in his lapel and his inability to reach either. The Doctor, his face blanching and his mad blue eyes, wide and near as panicked as Jim's strained struggles, shouted suddenly in a hoarse, choked, voice.  
  
"Leela!" He bellowed angrily. "Get up you stupid little barbarian! I swear...you fight like Neeva...NO...you fight like a TESH!"  
  
A furious scream welled out of Leela at this, Artie imagined, insult, and Leela's legs moved in a way that reminded Artie, inappropriately, of an accomplished French young lady he had had the pleasure of knowing and wrapped themselves forward around Bear's broad chest. The brave looked down startled at the double-jointed maneuver just before he toppled backward off her chest and between her legs, the back of his head striking the well packed earth with a vibrating thud. She launched herself onto his chest instead and snatched the knife from his open palm and pressed it forward under his jaw, her eyes ablaze with savage triumph. One thrust and victory was hers!  
  
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A muffled sob in a sea of cheers caught Leela's ears and she stopped. Kills like Bear hadn't moved...he was still stunned his head still ringing from the slam into the earth...he was at her mercy and the rule's called for his death. But the eyes of the frightened old woman's had stolen Leela's fury. She stood and with a deliberate flick of her wrist the knife embedded itself in the dirt beside Bear's ear, knicking it.  
  
She raised her fist. "I claim victory! I demand we be freed!"  
  
Red Hand stepped forward sadly. "You have to kill...to win."  
  
"I have no right to take an old woman's last son. If I did," she said respectfully bowing to the Chief. "I would not win...I would be a murderer...and I have told you before. I, and my," She looked at The Doctor and pointedly at West and Gordon. "FRIENDS...are not murderers."  
  
Red Hand stepped up to Leela and she stiffened as he put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. She relaxed into the hug with a tired relief. When the Chief released her he smiled broadly, the first time she could recall seeing him do anything but frown, and he turned her in the direction of the deepest depth of the audience.  
  
"Leela, Warrior of Sevateem is the victor!"  
  
The cheer was deafening and Leela was almost knocked over by the force of it, of the tribe who pressed in on her to touch her and pat her head and shoulders. The crowd parted slightly, but lowered its volume, as Kills like Bear walked through it with her knife in his hand. Leela watched him warily, until he turned the handle to her and presented her with her weapon and smiled. She took the blade and sheathed it and put her arm out. He clasped it high near the elbow and shook it firmly then let go and retreated into the crowd. His mother stepped forward and her apple doll face crinkled in a grateful smile and she kissed Leela's cheek and followed her son, disappearing into the crowd.  
  
She had not been able to see the release of the others. The Doctor appeared like a ghost behind her and placed a large hand on her shoulder and she turned. She wanted to hit him for his remarks earlier but he was smiling so warmly that all she really felt like doing now was melt against him and allow him to keep her upright. Then West stepped out of the din of faces and Leela stood straight and inclined her head to him not sure what she should do. West's solution was to draw her into a mind numbing kiss that made her nearly as close to passing out as she was when Kills like Bear tackled her with his shoulder. Though she had to say...she preferred West's way better. When he let her up for air the one called Artie pushed a wet cloth into her grateful hands and she daubed at the dirt on her face then cleaned away the blood on her chest.  
  
The Doctor had wandered away...not far...Leela could see that he watched Shaker of Bones who glared at them dangerously. The Doctor smiled back at him. Leela's attention was brought back to the crowd around her as Red Hand ordained a celebration for her. She felt the blush rise in her cheeks.   
  
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The girl had fallen to sleep in his arms as they sat before the bonfire. The last of the tribe had gone back to their teepees. The day of negotiations, death, anger and battle had culminated in a feeling of goodwill toward Leela's compassion. And as she lay exhausted against his chest while The Doctor and Artie spoke in hushed voices, Jim had to wonder if he would have been so compassionate. He was a capable fighter. He didn't doubt that he would have won had he been chosen. But the win would only have allowed them to leave before their job was really done. This strange girl's actions had saved them and possibly the negotiations as well. Jim lifted Leela gently. The Doctor glanced up from his conversation with Artie and eyed him curiously.   
  
"I'm taking her to the teepee to sleep..." he had the uncomfortable feeling of being watched by a paternal figure again. "I'll be right back."  
  
The Doctor nodded and smiled at the girl.  
  
"Taught her everything I know." His white teeth shone proudly.  
  
West looked at the odd man doubtfully. "To fight?"  
  
"To win," His eyes sparkled in the dancing flames. "...the right way."  
  
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	3. Part 3

Shaker of Bones abased himself at the sculpted, shining feet of his idol.   
  
"Groveling will not solve our new problems Shaman." The voice rumbled low and hollow like a cold demon's speaking from the bottom of a metal well.  
  
Shaker lived up to his name as his body quaked with fear and awe. He didn't stand. He kept his eyes averted. He listened intently, with great trepidation of a coming punishment.  
  
"The agents still have Red Hand's ear. The war that should be commencing...isn't. Your people will be slaves to the white man if you fail me Shaman. But you will not live to see your failure. Do you understand?"  
  
The Shaman nodded, his chin bouncing against the chilly metal floor. "I understand Silver Totem."  
  
The inflection of the deep, rumbling, metallic voice never changed. Predictions of disaster, predictions of prosperity, predictions of victory or defeat where made in the same ominous monotone. The Shaman had come to measure the contents of the words, when dealing with Silver Totem, and not to listen for the rise and fall, timber, and tone that you normally used to detect the speaker's feelings on a matter.  
  
"When the white men are at war with the tribe, the other Silver Totems will come from the heavens and protect your land. Protect the gold in the mountains. This is our promise to you." Silver Totem intoned. "But if there is no war. If a treaty allows the white army to guard the white miners who steal your gold, then it will be difficult for us to protect you."  
  
The old man shuddered with anger...and fear.  
  
"The agents would be dead or gone by now if the new whites hadn't come! The tribe was ready for war and the stranger called The Doctor..."  
  
"The Doctor?" asked Silver Totem. The tall, shining figure turned from the shaman and touched the walls of silver that flashed with colored lights that made up a large part of the inside of the special teepee Silver Totem had the tribe construct for him. "The Doctor, you said?"  
  
Shaker looked up and nodded coming up to his knees before his god.  
  
"He came here with a girl called Leela. She battled our strongest brave and won, so they all were allowed to live by Red Hand's command." The old man swallowed hard. "But this "Doctor" made the girl fight, instead of the agent, West, in exchange for a promise."  
  
"What was this promise?" The words rumbled like doom.  
  
"That...if she won...that they would be allowed to meet you."  
  
The silence was weighted. Like a stone pressing on the old man's chest as he watched the cold, unmoving, lines of Silver Totem for any reaction. It became too much.  
  
"I can kill them myself, if I have to!" I will cut their throats as they sleep in their teepee! I...I..." he stammered helplessly.  
  
"No." came the answer. "I will see them....I will take care of this problem."  
  
The shaman looked surprised, but the enormous relief that poured over him made him too weak to question his luck. He bowed again and scuttled from the tent.  
  
"I will bring them when the sun rises."  
  
"Yes" intoned the deep voice on the other side of the tent flap. "Bring The Doctor to me."  
  
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As the moon rose to the highest part of the sky The Doctor sat by the fire with the two men and sipped the fatty broth he had ladled into a tin cup. He had been given back his sonic screwdriver, his TARDIS key and most importantly...his yoyo and he watched the flames die down in the small ring of stone and pondered the situation he found himself in.  
  
Not that he pondered it too closely. It wasn't unexpected anymore. He hated to admit it, and he would never admit it aloud, but he felt that if these situations didn't find him like a magnet, he would be tempted to find them himself. Whether that was fair to his friends or not, he tried not to question. It was his "job" so to speak. If they accompanied him then they were, technically, on the same mission with him and anything that benefited his homegrown mission, benefited the universal whole...sad as sometimes the results have been for those he has called , friend, student, child, or even spouse.  
  
He gave himself, quite unknowingly, this mission of guardian, protector, straight setter of wrongs, and friend of humanity. It was as natural to him after 800 or so years, as breathing, or the rhythm of his hearts. He could, with no difficulty, take Leela and leave now. But he knew he wouldn't. Once more he propelled himself and someone he cared for towards an uncertain future.  
  
The man, West, sat to his right, having returned from putting the exhausted Leela to bed. He tried not to smile at the discomfort the man obviously felt. He was a very straight-laced chap, handsome, athletic...a lot like Harry...but more serious, much more violent...and smarter. The other man...Gordon...Artemus...he intrigued The Doctor more. Handsome himself, with a dramatic flair the Time lord relished, his dark eyes watched The Doctor with an anticipatory shine and a keen intelligence The Doctor found all too rare in his travels.  
  
"You're not from around these parts...are you?"  
  
"By 'these parts' you mean this continent? This region? Or This planet?" smiled The Doctor.  
  
"I'm not a fanciful man Doctor, so it's painful to admit it...but 'this planet'." The man chuckled with the air of someone hoping to be convinced he's wrong and his question was a joke.  
  
Not obliging, The Doctor answered. "Then you are correct. Leela and I aren't from around 'these parts'." He smiled. "Though Earth is, by far, my most favorite planet!"  
  
The man blinked, startled, by the strange confirmation. James West interrupted.   
  
"You'll have to excuse us...but we've had an encounter already with people claiming to be from another planet." The skeptic in West more easy to see. "And these folks turned out to be regular old thieves."  
  
"From Earth?" asked The Doctor, interested.  
  
"Of course, from Earth." West said.  
  
"Wellll..." The Doctor said seriously. "Leela is a mean tempered beastie but never a thief, and neither am I." He sipped his broth, lowering it to add casually. "And we're not from Earth...though Leela's ancestors were."  
  
"Would you care to offer any proof?" West harrumphed.   
  
The Doctor looked up at the moon, which was on a descending arch now and stood up and yawned. "Much too tired. Besides...I fear tomorrow will demonstrate quite enough. Goodnight." And he turned and walked towards the teepee they would be sharing, momentarily put off, as he often was, by the reality that it was not larger on the inside as outside.  
  
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The day dawned with James West, Artemus Gordon, and the girl Leela finding The Doctor helping some giggling women grind corn on stones next to the restoked morning fire. He seemed at ease with the task and the women were impressed by his skill and taken with his jovial persona. He saw them approach and stood up, dusting off his clothes and making his apologies and strode over to meet them.  
  
Before they could greet each other Shaker of Bones and four sour looking braves, including Owl's Eyes, stepped forward.  
  
"You will all come with us now." He said brusquely. "Silver Totem waits for you...Doctor."  
  
The Doctor didn't look surprised, which worried Jim.  
  
"Shouldn't we wait for Red Hand?" he asked.  
  
The Shaman looked scornful. "Red Hand is not allowed to visit Silver Totem. If you wish to see him you will come now...or leave here now. Which do you decide?"  
  
"Take us to your leader..." quipped The Doctor with a chuckle. Jim couldn't help feeling it was a forced laugh. As they walked across the camp toward the far outskirts and the dip in the valley, he spoke to Jim. "Be ready to run...do not let Leela attack Silver Totem and do not go near him or use your weapons on him either. They will have no effect."  
  
The teepee was enormous. Twice as large as the council teepee. Obviously a special construction and once the flap opened Jim could see why. The teepee was not the true structure. They entered a teepee but stood inside a metal, domed, place...room...building. Jim wasn't sure what to call it. It reminded him of a sleeker version of one of Loveless' many labs. Jim immediately looked around for his tiny nemesis, but no one was there. Artemus tried not to reach out and touch the blinking panels and displays with difficulty. And while Jim was not as scientifically savvy as Artie he knew that, somehow, something was not quite...right.  
  
Loveless' inventions had an artistic flair to them...which the smooth unseamed metal dome lacked. The blinking lights and displays were recessed, without seam, in the metal as though grown there, and there was none of the flourish that the diminutive madman loved so much. The room was so smooth and clean of line and design that Jim actually missed the indentation in the far wall, beside a bank of blinking panels that turned out to be, apparently, another room.   
  
The Doctor tensed beside him and laid an arm on Leela drawing her behind him slightly which she took offense to with a scowl. Then Jim saw the motion that The Doctor had somehow sensed before him and he laid his hand on his revolver. He remembered the tall man's warning, but for the moment he drew comfort from the presence of his weapon.  
  
"Did you lose your way Cyberleader?" asked The Doctor in a clear clipped voice which reverberated around the room. "You're not due for your next attack on Earth for another 57 years."  
  
West felt the vibrations through his boots and watched the door warily as the motion that caught his eye became a form that made his blood turn to ice.  
  
As tall as The Doctor, the figure walked with an impossibly erect, and slightly stiff gait. Like an officer's gait while performing a ceremonial review of troops. The creature came into view. Jim immediately shot The Doctor and then Artie a look of disbelief...of hopeful incredulousness. Begging the stranger to tell him this was elaborate bit of trickery. But no. This wasn't a suit of armor, this figure of poured and flexible silver metal, and this...wasn't...human.  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@  
  
Artemus Gordon stared at the creature. Bi-pedal..mansize and limbed, though as sexless as a plank. Smooth, matte silver and glistening metallic in places, the face or it held Artie's attention though it was expressionless and mask-like. Like the Kachina Doll Owl Eye's had described it as. Flat. Slightly oversized. The mouth was a mere two inch slash below where a nose should be, but wasn't. The eyes were two red, balefully glowing circles and there was no hair...just a helmet that appeared to be part of the creature and the only part of the creature a color other then silver. Two coils of thick tubing in a matte black finish on either side of the blank and chilling face. The only other feature that was distinct to the smooth body was a small square box with thing vented slashes that sat in the center of the thing's broad chest, a small blue light blinking in a rhythm that made Artie think of breathing.  
  
"What the hell is it?" he hissed to The Doctor. "Some sort of automaton?"   
  
The Doctor said nothing.   
  
"I am Cyberleader 4 of the Cyberman Collective 2 2 5 Alpha Zed. I am not an automaton. I am part of the cyber-organic mind unit sent to assist the eventual assimilation the inferior creatures of this planet into the perfected collective." The rumbling voice spoke in words that suggested indignation but there was no inflection to indicate the degree, or even IF this was a correct assumption. In any case Artie didn't like the sound of it.  
  
"But something went wrong...didn't it Cyberleader?" The Doctor smiled grimly. "Your ship is damaged...you are alone here. You are cut off from the collective mind...aren't you?"  
  
The metal man was either not versed in maintaining secrets, or did not recognize an interrogation when it saw one, or it was supremely confident and unconcerned with what they knew of its situation. "That is correct. The temporal functions of my time ship have ceased. My reports to the collective have not been...productive. I have modified my programming to secure the gold in the region, and preserve anonymity until the collective sends a rescue ship."  
  
The Doctor nodded as though commiserating with the lonely traveler, but his words were far from sympathetic.  
  
"So you're busy betraying people and killing people in order to keep yourself hidden."  
  
"Correct." The creature rumbled. "But that is unnecessary now that you are here...Doctor."  
  
The Doctor's eyes widened just a tad.  
  
"You will give me your time ship Doctor or I shall kill your companions."  
  
"Time ship!" Artie and Jim both exclaimed.  
  
The Doctor ignored them. "I'm afraid that is impossible Cyberleader. Since I'm quite aware that you will kill them in any case."  
  
The creature looked at the Doctor without motion There was a sudden whirring and a beam of light lanced from the red eyes and Artie and the others watched in horror as Shaker of Bones opened his mouth to scream but crumbled to the floor a blackened starburst patten burned into his chest.  
  
"You are correct Doctor." Cyberleader nodded stiffly. "You have used your Time Lord technology to meddle in the affairs of the Cybermen one too many times, you are an enemy of the collective in whatever new face you appear in and your companions are recorded in our history to be as big a danger to us because of your influence. While you exist, it is the duty of the collective to identify and destroy you...and those who follow you." The red light began to build in the creature's eyes again and Artie had no idea who would be its next target. "But the indigenous life forms of this time are not my concern for now. Return me to my time Doctor and they will be spared. Only you...shall be eliminated."   
  
The Doctor bent his head low and seemed to contemplate the demand. Leela bristled next to him and the creature's eyes flared and Jim, instinctive to the nature of a showdown, in whatever form it takes, recognized signs only a gunslinger could puzzle out. He grabbed the girl's arm and yanked her backwards and spun her out the tent flap to the outside just as another bolt of red light burned the vacated air beside The Doctor.  
  
As the heated air cooled Artie moved like the trained magician he was and threw the ball he had retrieved from his sleeve at the creature's feet and it erupted in thick blue smoke. Another flash of red light burned Artie across the right shoulder as he reached for the Doctor to extract him from the teepee as well but the odd man took aim with the strange metal stick tipped with the red crystal and a whine pierced the air and the blasts of red stopped long enough for them all to escape the strange "ship" and be half way to the tree line at the bottom of the mountain slope before Silver Totem decided it was time to leave his anonymity behind and leave his teepee in an attempt to chase them.  
  
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	4. Part 4

"What did you do Doctor!" yelled Leela as they sprinted for the trees.  
  
"Not much..." said The Doctor breathlessly. "Used the sonic screwdriver to disrupt the firing mechanism in our friend's head for a moment. He should be recovering shortly."  
  
The tree to their right exploded with bark and leaves flying and they ducked left.  
  
"SEE!" The Doctor shouted. "All Better!"  
  
Leela grabbed her mentor's arm and pulled him with her. The others seemed content to follow them. She led them straight to the TARDIS.  
  
The Doctor opened the door and the men held back as he leapt through it. This time she grabbed West and shoved him forward, then Gordon who looked back at her as though she were mad to be shoving them all in that tiny box. She dashed in behind them slamming the door.  
  
The Doctor looked up from his control platform. He had activated the magic window that let him see outside his ship. West and Gordon looked around with surprising calm, more interested in the window then in the dimensions of the ship that looked smaller outside then inside.  
  
Leela watched as the Silver man stood halfway up the hillside staring at the tree line. Contemplating? She saw the frightened and awed tribes people fall on their faces before him. It was clear from the looks on some faces that they could scarcely believe that what their shaman had said was actually true. Instead of fighting the evil creature though, the tribe obviously saw the shaman vindicated and the white man Silver Totem warned them of being chased from their land. Some looked distressed, some cheered, some confused, all of them, though, dared not incur Silver Totem's wrath.  
  
This was not good. Leela knew that awe, and fear, and being confronted by both God and Devil and how difficult it was to be convinced that neither existed...that what she had worshipped and feared was manipulating her tribe for selfish and insane ends. She looked away from the screen. It was painful to see.  
  
"Well."said The Doctor. "That went as I expected."  
  
"You expected that thing to try to fry us?" asked West as he looked around.  
  
"I expected he would try..." The Doctor smiled toothily. "Not succeed."  
  
"I take it you know that fella?" Artie grinned back. He seemed to appreciate The Doctor's sense of humor more then James West did...or even herself.   
  
"Ohhh...maybe not that particular Cyberleader unit...but yes. The Cybermen know me. And I know them...too well." He sighed.  
  
Artemus Gordon let out a whistle as he finished looking around. "Jim...this place reminds me of the paintings that Loveless trapped us in. Bigger on the inside then outside."  
  
James West nodded and The Doctor, completely forgetting the current dilemma, looked at Artie with surprised curiosity.  
  
"You're acquainted with trans-dimensional engineering?" He asked incredulously. Rarely was The Doctor ever truly surprised by anything.  
  
Artemus looked around and nodded. "If that's what you call this. Dr. Loveless, the man we spoke of before...he invented it."  
  
The Doctor drew himself up imperiously and looked down his long nose with a frown. "Nonsense! Humans...especially of this era are incapable of understanding the mechanics involved...."  
  
"Doctor..." Interrupted Leela. "Doctor..."  
  
"Even the societies with rudimentary temporal capabilities haven't mastered trans-dimensional physics...."  
  
"DOCTOR!"  
  
Leela pointed at the Magic Window.  
  
On the hillside stood Silver Totem, straight and as firmly rooted as a tree.  
  
"Doctor." Intoned the metal man. "This is a pointless exercise. You cannot hide in your time craft. You cannot leave. Cyberman historical records show that your emotional attachments to this species and this planet make you vulnerable to threats made against them. Possessing this flaw of....emotion...gives me a weapon. You WILL do as I order, or each hour five units of this species will be terminated. Once these units are eliminated I will self destruct my vessel and every organic creature in a 150 kilometer radius shall be terminated."   
  
There was a whine of energy and the red beams lanced from Silve....the Cyberman's eyes and four of his closest worshippers fell like Shaker of Bones with unrealized screams showing on their mute, pain filled faces.  
  
James West reached for the door, but The Doctor grabbed his shoulder and yanked backwards with a strength belied by his appearance. Artemus Gordon simply stared with horror. "Dear God!" he uttered in a strangled whisper.  
  
The metallic monster hadn't moved so much as a centimeter.  
  
"Your first hour begins NOW."  
  
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	5. Part 5

James West turned on The Doctor with a hand clasping his gun handle. The Doctor's eyes flickered to the motion absentmindedly and seemed unconcerned.  
  
"The TARDIS will not allow the firing of a weapon inside her confines." He tossed off as he raced to the controls he manipulated from the console. Not that he would have shot the strange man. But his confident interference in everything they did was getting on his nerves. West was unused to having his decisions second-guessed...much less quashed with ridiculous ease. And as for the gun not working inside this room they were in. Well maybe it wouldn't, but with the way Leela scowled at him, her devoted and protective nature sparked by any perceived threat to The Doctor, he was pretty sure that the "TARDIS" would be hard pressed to stop a knife. The tall man seemed confident in his ability to restrain anyone from bloodshed, though Jim was doubtful that his confidence had prevented much in his lifetime. The Doctor threw a switch. The "window" disappeared. West was annoyed. The Doctor was squeamish of violence, and while he could respect that he would prefer to know what moves his enemy was making so he could counter them.  
  
That is if The Doctor would let him.  
  
"I could have saved some of those people!" he growled.  
  
"With what?" asked The Doctor calmly. "Lead projectiles? Overdeveloped musculature? Your keen intellect? You don't know the vulnerabilities of the Cybermen."  
  
"Do you?" asked Artie. His voice pained after watching the cold and remorseless murders by Silver To...The Cyberman.  
  
"As a matter of fact I do." The Doctor flopped down to the floor of the honeycomb-paneled room and put his hand under his chin.  
  
"Would you care to share?" asked Jim with exacerbation.   
  
"Well..." The Doctor mused. "We could probably use a cannon of some kind....that might put a dent in him." He turned his great curly head towards Jim, his expression pure annoyance. "Have one of those on you?"  
  
Jim waited woodenly, The Doctor continued.  
  
"They are slower then human's but fighting them with those muscles of yours would be suicide. They are twenty times stronger then you, and feel no pain. Plus he would probably just rather melt you down to the size of a postage stamp with that clever red beam of his."  
  
"What else?" Jim wasn't going to allow himself to get any further flustered by the odd man. He clasped his hands behind his back and conducted his tone and temperament as he would an interrogation.  
  
The Doctor smiled. "Well...mental powers have been known to work....you wouldn't have any of those would you?  
  
Artie stifled a choking chuckle. Jim refused to yield.  
  
The Doctor rolled his eyes and stood towering over West.  
  
"The reason the Cyber Leader is so interested in keeping your white miners out is that they are "allergic" to gold dust. It chokes their breathing units. To keep himself safe he needed to secure the only element in the area that could really harm him." He lowered his face until it was close to Jim's meeting it almost nose to nose. "If you could just run up to the fellow and throw some gold dust into his breathing unit we could all be on our way."  
  
Artie stood staring at the place the magic window had opened and was clearly digesting the information. "Maybe a hollowed projectile of some kind?"  
  
"It would have to be one that couldn't have its working parts jammed by the Cyber Leader's mechanics." The Doctor frowned. "Your guns would be as useless outside against him as they are inside the TARDIS. The Cybermen have adapted their own versions to many Time lord inventions."  
  
Jim looked up suddenly and his wide smile seemed to catch The Doctor somewhere between delight and startlement. He grabbed Leela by the arm and pulled her off to the side and whispered in her ear.  
  
Leela looked at him with stunned joy. With a predator's rapture....truly savage. But Jim no longer found it strange. She was fully a woman, but more then a woman and perfectly, naturally, capable of the task ahead.  
  
"Would you have gold dust Doctor?" Leela asked smiling slyly.  
  
The Doctor shifted uneasily but the corners of his mouth slowly curled up in a childish anticipation that Jim could see Artie looking nervous about.  
  
"Yeeesssss." He intoned slowly.   
  
"Artie...can you rig a soft pack that will burst on impact?" Jim asked his companion.  
  
Artie nodded, waiting for the word.  
  
The Doctor smiled. "But how will you deliver its contents? Your guns will not work."  
  
Jim smiled. "Then Leela and I will have to use our "overdeveloped musculature"."  
  
Leela elbowed Jim in the ribs and she laughed. "And our "keen intellects"!" 


End file.
